Harry Potter Theory: IT's Pennywise Is A BOGGART!

1. A Special Boggart Ability

So, how could the boggart take one form for so long and appear multiple times to lots of different people as Pennywise the dancing clown if it's not just a coincidence that they're all scared of him? Sure, it could be power, as we've already explored, but it could be more specific.

In the history of Rowling's books, there was at least one famous boggart that had learned how to take on a permanent form. It's not the only example of "special" boggarts exhibiting strange inflated powers, but the Bludgeoning Boggart of Old London Town was known to have taken on the form of a murderous thug who prowled the back streets of 19th century London. It wasn't subject to the same restrictions of other boggarts, nor limited to living in the dark waiting for victims, it was free, given a permanent form and very much like a Pennywise form.

So why couldn't IT be gifted the same power? Perhaps the creatures power is simply higher than that of other boggarts - another famous example, the Screaming Bogey of Strathtully was able to feed so well on the fears of local Muggles that it had become an elephantine black shadow with glowing white eyes. So it's clear that boggart powers are on a sliding scale depending on their success with victims.

Neville Longbottom proves himself particularly susceptible to boggarts because of his traumatic past, but what if he encountered a boggart of tremendous power when he was young? Perhaps his trauma made him open to boggarts - just as the Losers seem to be better targets for IT because of their traumatic pasts - and he encountered one before he came to Hogwarts? That might explain why he has such a poor memory, just as the Losers do when they leave Derry.

Fundamentally, it seems that there is a lot of evidence to suggest that IT is a boggart and the more you dig into it the more compelling it gets. What do you think of this theory?